‘Godfather of AI’ warns artificial general intelligence may arrive years sooner than previously believed

Geoffrey Hinton, a leading AI pioneer, warns that machines may soon surpass human intelligence and urges embedding “maternal instincts” in advanced AI to ensure it prioritizes human care and protection. According to Forbes, Hinton, often called the “godfather of AI,” predicts artificial general intelligence — AI matching or exceeding human capabilities — could emerge in just a few years, far sooner than his previous 30- to 50-year estimate. He highlights AI’s ability to learn collectively, potentially outpacing human progress, Forbes reports.
Ron Schmelzer for Forbes:
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Speaking at the recent Ai4 Conference in Las Vegas, he said he now believes artificial general intelligence, or AGI, could be here within a decade.
“Most experts think sometime between five and twenty years,” he said. His own forecast has tightened sharply. “I used to say thirty to fifty years. Now, it could be more than twenty years, or just a few years.”
Hinton isn’t picturing minor upgrades. He’s thinking of systems far more capable than any person alive and he doubts we can control them once they arrive.
In much of the tech world, the future of AI is framed as a contest for control: humans must keep the upper hand. Hinton calls that a false hope. “They’re going to be much smarter than us,” he said. “Imagine you were in charge of a playground of three-year-olds and you worked for them. It wouldn’t be very hard for them to get around you if they were smarter.”
His solution turns the usual script upside down. Instead of fighting to stay in charge, he believes we should design AI to care about us. The analogy he uses is a mother and her child. The stronger being naturally committed to the weaker one’s survival. “We need AI mothers rather than AI assistants. An assistant is someone you can fire. You can’t fire your mother, thankfully.”
That means building “maternal instincts” into advanced systems, a kind of embedded drive to protect human life.

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MacDailyNews Take: This, of course, brings to mind Isaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics:
0. Zeroth Law: “A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.” (This law takes precedence over the next three.)
1. First Law: “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.”
2. Second Law: “A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.”
3. Third Law: “A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.”

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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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